Building a better Gascoigne

A time capsule celebrating the past, present and future of the Gascoigne West estate in Barking has been buried by Gascoigne Primary School and members of the local community following an art project led by Wates Residential, alongside Boathouse Studios and Art Collective, with over 120 pupils contributing.

More than 40 people including Jennie Coombs, Head of Affordable Housing at Be First, and Councillors Dominic Twomey and Saima Ashraf, Deputy Leaders of Barking and Dagenham Council, joined students, teachers and Wates at an event to mark the burial and showcase the items chosen to go into the capsule.

27 pupils from Gascoigne Primary School helped to bury the time capsule, and the location has been shared with the local library. Submissions included artwork, objects, photographs, letters, poems and audio recordings, with pupils and residents from the neighbouring area speaking about the items they had chosen, reflecting on why they were special to them and why they would be important for future generations. Jean, a local resident who has lived on the estate for 74 years and previously acted as Chair of the Tenants Association, said to the children as she placed her letter into the capsule: “Remember how lucky you are, this is all for you. But also remember, community is not about one person, it’s about all of us.”

The school has been working with the Boathouse Studios and Art Collective to create the submissions which were centred around the theme ‘My Dream Barking’. Some children wrote about their dreams for a fair, welcoming society in the borough, while others drew pictures of their dream homes surrounded green spaces and wildlife, with one pupil Maryam saying she hoped to live in one of the new homes on the estate in future. The artworks not included in the capsule will decorate the hoardings near Hardwicke Street, so that the local community can continue to appreciate the work.

Part of Wates Group, one of the UK’s leading construction, property services and residential development companies, Wates Residential was appointed by Be First in 2019 to regenerate the former 1960s estate, which will drastically increase the number of new homes available for local people. Phase One of the Gascoigne Estate development will see 200 homes delivered and is due to be completed in April this year. The second phase, which was awarded to Wates in April 2021, will see a further 386 much-needed homes built.

The scheme promises to not only deliver crucial housing, but also wider benefits for local people. As part of the project has Wates made a commitment to the borough to recruit a minimum of 20% local workforce, create at least 20 new jobs for local people and address the construction industry skills shortage with an education programme that will run throughout local primary and secondary schools, as well as colleges.

Last year, Wates launched a set of ‘Top Trumps’ style playing cards with Greatfields School, in Barking, to help explain the wide variety of roles available in construction and to encourage more young people into the industry.

Adrian Fennessy, Operations Director at Wates Residential, said:

“The Gascoigne West development is a flagship project that promises to create a lasting legacy for the Barking community. The burying of the time capsule was a moment to reflect on the site’s history, and at the same time look forward to a better, greener estate. Not only will the development see top quality, affordable homes built for local people, our investment in education, skills and training is also creating opportunities for residents who currently face barriers to employment.”

Councillor Dominic Twomey, Deputy Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said:

“This is a really wonderful project which preserves our young people’s memories for decades to come. The future of the new Gascoigne is bright with great new homes built to last for today’s, tomorrow’s and many generations to come.”

Jade Davidson, Teacher at Gascoigne Primary School, said:

"The time capsule event provides a wonderful opportunity for our pupils at Gascoigne Primary School to share their aspirational ideas and vision about their ideal future for Barking. This is linked to our Learning Mission ‘Developing an understanding of Fairness and Equality’. The event will enable our pupils to finish the topic with an encapsulating and memorable experience in their learning, leaving a piece of themselves in history and a mark for our future generations'.

Stunning new plans to build 446 homes, a new community centre, playgrounds and treelined streets and courtyards will be submitted to the council for planning permission this month.

The new homes in the Coverdales and Ripple Corner areas of the Gascoigne neighbourhood feature one to three-bedroom flats and family friendly town houses with rents from as low as £160 a week.

The designs for the Coverdales area feature flats arranged in mansion blocks at each end, with lower rise town houses facing each other in an old east end style street to help foster neighbourliness.

There will be a landmark building on Ripple Road and, next door, a large, flexible community centre with a community kitchen, will offer great views over the new Gascoigne Park from a roof terrace.

The new plans also include a new greenway and dedicated cycle routes plus garden courtyards and an urban woodland.

Jennie Coombs, Head of Affordable Housing at Be First, said: “Local people have been front and centre in shaping our plans for the latest phase of the redevelopment.

“We’re proud of our community spirit and it’s something we want to retain in the new newighbourhood as our ambition is to make sure the new Gascoigne is the most affordable, liveable, family friendly place to live in London.”

You can see the final proposals, including an explanatory video, here.

Plans to provide a pop-up pocket park on Abbey Road are underway.

The project is the result of ideas from the newly formed Gascoigne Residents Forum who are helping to co-design this space as a vibrant facility for the Gascoigne community at a time when outdoor public spaces have never been more important, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The small park will feature natural play area, a gym corner, seating and stage area for a space to relax in, a garden area, a large feasting table and a growing plot.

Sadia Ur-Rehman, Community Engagement Coordinator at Be First said: "We hope this will be a great space for residents to relax, exercise, play and even grow their own vegetables! There could also be opportunities for small events, communal dining and games and much more!"

Construction and landscaping of the park will begin over the next few weeks until early June 2021. We hope to involve residents through this process with some of the planting, growing and building, depending on Government guidelines on Covid-19. If you are interested in getting involved please email us at communities@befirst.london.

This project has been funded by Wates Residential who have commissioned their landscape architects Fabrik to work closely with and co-design the pocket park with the Gascoigne Residents’ Forum.

Local people are invited to give their views on the designs for the latest phases of new homes in the Gascoigne neighbourhood.

The plans, developed by the Council’s regeneration organisation, Be First, set out ideas for more than 440 top quality new homes set in an attractive green landscape in three areas.

The first is for over 90 new homes and a community centre on the corner of Ripple Road and St Pauls Road, opposite Lidl close to the town centre.

There are also plans for the area around The Coverdales, behind the Orchard Surgery where a diverse range of around 350 new homes are planned with new tree-lined streets and an open space adjacent to the school.

There are also outline designs for the area between Dovehouse Mead and King Edwards Road.

Councillor Geddes, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, said: “We have drawn up some initial ideas for each of these areas, and we expect to submit a planning application for The Coverdales and for Ripple Corner in the summer. But before we do, we'd like local people’s views.

“We have set up a website and produced a video to explain our thinking, but we are consulting very early in the process to make sure what local people say about them can really influence the designs and layout of these exciting new homes.”

The website, which provides a range of information about the project, and including a survey and ideas platform, is at https://yourcall.befirst.london/gascoigne-coverdales.

We have spoken a lot about building much needed new homes in the Gascoigne neighbourhood, and rightly so.

But what sort of place will result will it be when all the work is finished?

We have set out our plan to make Gascoigne a walkable, safe, lively, well-connected, sustainable neighbourhood. Somewhere people will be proud to call home. We’ve called it ‘the Big Picture’.

Our vision is for a place that is easy to get around with great links to the town centre, easy journeys to school, and links between the many green spaces and the nearby River Roding and Abbey and Greatfields parks. It will be a fun place with children’s playgrounds and play-on-the-way, bicycle hubs, allotments, community gardens and even its own orchard. And everyone will enjoy the green infrastructure - the hundreds of new trees and new parks within the neighbourhood itself.

Take a look and see what you think. Watch our video, or read the plan and give us your ideas.

Plans to transform one of east London’s largest 1960s housing estates into a new model for green urban living were approved by Barking and Dagenham Council’s planning committee this week.

The council’s approval of two planning applications from its regeneration arm, Be First, means over 900 new homes at rents and prices ordinary working Londoners can afford, will be built as the former Gascoigne estate, in the heart of Barking, is redeveloped.

Councillor Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said: “This decision means we will be creating one of the greenest and most sustainable neighbourhoods in the capital.

“It will be a new model of 21st century urban design to meet the challenges of climate change and provide quality homes for ordinary working people.”

The designs for the new homes will capitalise on the Gascoigne neighbourhood’s location, with the town centre, with public transport, retail and leisure facilities all just 15 minutes’ walk away.

This ‘15 minute’ neighbourhood will encourage more sustainable living through its use of green heating and power generating systems, and will feature 1,600 cycle parking spaces.

Councillor Andrew Achilleos, Member Champion for Climate Change, said: “This exciting project brings us another step closer to our ambition of a greener borough for the benefit of all.

"While there’s still lots of work to do, we want to play our role in helping to ensure that Barking and Dagenham is a green and sustainable place to live for future generations.”

The plans include:

• a range of one to three-bedroom homes with rents starting at £135 a week
• a new 1.25 acre park
• extensive tree-planting around a series of courtyards
• connection to the local district energy network,
• green roofs and solar panels
• 350 sqm of community space – a residents’ hub – and an improved range of children’s play areas and a Multiple Use Games Area
• 822sqm of retail and commercial space

Jacob Willson, Head of Design at Be First said: “We have designed a greener, more sustainable Gascoigne which will create a healthy neighbourhood for our residents with a great new park at its heart.”

Linda Thiel, Director of London Studio, White Arkitekter, said: “It’s wonderful to see our designs for the Gascoigne neighbourhood endorsed by the council.

"The projects we are working on have given us the opportunity to improve the quantity and quality of housing available for local people, and enable a paradigm shift in how the public spaces can be used, a move from estate to neighbourhood.

"This will become a place that provides green, active, social spaces for all ages and abilities.”

We had a fantastic virtual launch to our Gascoigne Residents' Forum last week!

We had a diverse group of 15+ members across Gascoigne attend who will support us to ensure that the concerns, aspirations and priorities of local residents are addressed and understood as the Gascoigne neighbourhood develops.

This was the first of 5 sessions enabling our members to learn all about estate renewal, placemaking, the design process and all that is to come in the Gascoigne neighbourhood!

In the first session we got to virtually meet our new Forum members, get some insights into their impressions of their neighbourhood, learn about their priorities and give them an overview of the Gascoigne to date. You can view the presentation here. It was an insightful first session.

We've got some brilliant projects lined up for the Forum including the co-design of open spaces, public art and community hubs in the heart of their community! Watch this space for more info.....

At Be First, we believe that engagement with residents is the key to designing and building better spaces and buildings, the creation of an environment that nurtures community and wellbeing for all. To do this we need your help, we’re seeking to establish a residents' forum for Gascoigne that can work with Be First ensuring that the concerns, aspirations and priorities of local residents are understood and addressed as the estate develops.

We would like to recruit 12 local Gascoigne residents’ from all age groups and backgrounds to join our forum. No previous experience is necessary. We want to meet residents who have ideas about the local area and want to get involved. Initially, were seeking to run 5-6 2 hour online workshops between November 2020 and February 2021, with a number of projects and initiatives on Gascoigne that we will involve our newly formed Residents Forum in post February. Residents will receive a £20 voucher per session.

Please see the Information Pack with more detailed information and our Expression of Interest form. The Expression of Interest needs to be completed by Friday 30^th October and emailed to communities@befirst.london. If you need more info or require a paper copy of the form, please get in touch on 020 8227 5104.

We have submitted our planning application for the new homes for the Gascoigne Estate, on the corner of Gascoigne Road and St Paul’s Road. And, we would like to thank residents for the contributions they have made as a community during our consultation and engagement process.

Our application includes a summary of all the feedback we have received from you so far.

We expect the application to be considered by the November 2020 planning committee.

Between now and then the Council will consult residents formally - asking for views and suggestions. You can see the full planning application on the Council’s website www.lbbd.gov.uk

Full details at https://yourcall.befirst.london/gascoigne-st-pauls

Consultation is now underway on revised proposals to build 526 new homes in the latest phase of redevelopment of the eastern end of Gascoigne estate, as part of the borough’s commitment to meet the climate challenge head on.

The new flats and houses, which will be built for the council by the authority’s development arm, Be First, are proposed for the site at the junction of St Pauls Road and Ripple Road, a stone’s throw from Barking town centre.

The eco-friendly designs include blocks ranging from four to 14 storeys arranged around a network of green courtyards and a new public park.

At least two thirds of the new homes will be let by the council at affordable rents or for shared ownership.

The development would further extend the area’s reputation for being one of the greenest in the borough.

Due to its proximity to the town centre, with its array of public transport options, the development is largely car-free, and features almost 900 cycle parking spaces.

And, the plans also include extensive tree-planting, connection to the local district energy network, green roofs and solar panels, as well as the courtyards and 1.25 acre Gascoigne Park itself.

Project Director, Dubravka Polic, explains: “We’ve decided to revisit our plans to meet the climate change challenge which faces us all.

“They still include much-needed, affordable homes for local people but the difference is that the new plans will be centred on greener living and reducing the need for cars helping to make cleaner air quality for this and the next generation.

“Most things you need – shops, transport and a large range of leisure options - are within easy walking distance, reducing the need for cars and allowing us to introduce a much greener environment.

“We’re very interested to hear what local residents think about these new ideas for more sustainable living before we submit a formal planning application.

“And, because we recognise the pace of development in and around Gascoigne is very high, and that people are being consulted a lot, we’re offering prizes to people who participate in our survey.”

The plans and are available to view online here and the closing date is 23 August.